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100

Out Of Eight

Combat Mission: Shock Force is a must-have title for all strategy gamers. All of the features in the game come together to form some great strategy gameplay. This is the most realistic and compelling tactical game available, and anyone who is looking for an authentic experience should look no further. This is as close to modern combat that you can safely get, and all of the features in the game make it a joy to play: the quality AI, slick interface, and highly detailed units make this a believable simulation. The fantastic scenario editor will allow for some incredible designs by the community, and the content included with the game highlights the flexibility of the game engine. The game has a couple of small issues, like no random maps and the lack of multiplayer matchmaking, but these are vastly eclipsed by the awesomeness of the remainder of the game. You owe it to yourself to check out this high-quality strategy game.

Without a doubt, Combat Mission: Shock Force has a lot to offer. Although this is quite a lengthy review, I feel as though I've only scratched the surface. I've not talked about things like screen resolutions (they automatically adjust to your desktop resolution, by the way), how the camera keys can take some getting used to, let alone whether turn-based or real-time plays best. To be sure, CM:SF is a very detailed and deep title, but at the end of the day the best judge of how good it really is will ultimately be you, the player. If you care to take my word, I don't think I've enjoyed a wargame as much this one since I played the original Combat Mission game all those years ago. If you have an interest in simulating realistic modern warfare, and specifically seeing how the new Stryker concept would fare in battle, you can't go wrong with Combat Mission: Shock Force.

I have to say, like I’m sure many will be, part of what I’m most excited about here are future possibilities for this new engine. BF has hinted that a WWII title will follow, a prospect that already has me salivating (unlike many reviewers, I’m in no way sick and tired of WW II.) I also think that with some well-crafted patches as well as mods and scenarios (created using the included editor) supplied by the enthusiastic Battlefront community, this could be the beginning of another classic series.

Regardless of story and setting this is still a typical warfare strategy title. Sure it has its differences but we have seen many games like this before. It’s a blast to play and there is a ton of different attributes that will keep any strategy buff happy. I would have liked to have seen a better Multiplayer option than what is found in the current release. I said it before, multiplay is the life and death of a game … literally.

Combat Mission: Shock Force comes as something of a disappointment. It's by no means a bad game, but it's not all that it should be. It looks and sounds great, but the lack of a tutorial is a major letdown, as the game is just too complex not to have one. Even the first few missions of the campaign are quite difficult and don't ease you into the game as they should. The simplistic AI also hurts the gameplay in the campaign mode too. Those of you who have played the Combat Mission series before will probably lap it up, but newcomers will need a lot of patience to persevere and get the most out of what is a good, but not great, strategy game.

Battlefront can be commended for their speedy patches but that doesn't excuse the sorry state of the game when it was released or make it any easier to endure the problems that still exist, particularly with regard to the apathetic AI, gummy interface, or poor overall performance. There are undoubtedly a small number of CM fans out there who can look past these issues in anticipation of future fixes but for the rest of us life is just too short to allow for these sorts of compromises. The title still scores high in terms of the interesting setting and the accuracy of the unit and combat modeling. Players who are looking for a realistic simulation of a war that's not unlike what our own troops are undergoing right now can definitely find it in Shock Force. Unfortunately, the Syrians aren't nearly as daunting an enemy as the deficiencies in the game's overall design.

While there's no excuse for the woeful state of the boxed Paradox version, it's clear Battlefront are not going to walk away. Give it a few months and many of the concerns in this review/howl of anguish/public information broadcast will probably be irrelevant. Will CM:SF ever attract the adoration its WW2 predecessors did? I doubt it, but given time, it should grow into something convincing enough to tempt back most grief-stricken grogs.

What more can be said? CM: Shock Force is a tremendous disappointment. There is still a great deal of promise here, Battlefront has already started whipping the game into shape through what will no doubt be a long succession of patches, and the diehard fan base will undoubtedly use the included editor to make some impressive battles. Even so, no game should be released in such a rough, incomplete state.